Coming off a close loss to No. 17 East Carolina--the baseball team's fifth in a row--the Blue Devils (15-18, 3-6 in ACC) will take on a struggling Wake Forest team (11-18, 1-8) in a three-game series this weekend. The Demon Deacons, who most recently fell to UNC Greensboro 12-4, are also looking to snap their 10-game losing streak this weekend. With two teams looking to turn around their seasons, the series will undoubtedly be hard fought.
Wake Forest, the ACC Champions in 2001, has found itself at the bottom of conference standings. Though the Demon Deacons faced the ACC powerhouses early this season--Clemson, North Carolina and Georgia Tech--the team has not found much success. The team is batting .287 this season, led by Ben Ingold, who averages .352 with 24 RBIs and three home runs. Though Wake Forest has lost its last 10 games, Nick Blue has been hot at the plate, averaging .407 with four stolen bases. Blue brings to Durham a seven-game hitting streak, his personal season-high. Nonetheless, the Demon Deacons have not been able to manufacture many runs. In its last four games, Wake Forest as been outscored by over 20 runs against UNC Greensboro and North Carolina.
A probable cause for the Demon Deacons' recent failure is its pitching staff. With a team ERA of 6.29, Wake Forest has only one pitcher with an ERA under 4.00: closer Lee Land, who has pitched only 10.1 innings this season and owns a perfect average.
Duke's pitching, on the other hand, has been its strength this season. Fifteen men deep, the pitching staff has a 3.97 ERA. They have combined for 246 strikeouts and allowed a mere 96 walks. Batters have been averaging .280 against the Blue Devil pitchers and seven have ERAs under 3.00.
"Our pitching has been our strong point this season," head coach Bill Hillier said. "I know that Wake Forest will come out strong this weekend because they've been struggling and they want to win."
Friday's probable pitching match up will be Tim Layden for Duke and Justin Keadle for Wake Forest. Layden, with a 4.62 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 39 innings, also leads the Blue Devils at the plate with 37 RBIs and four home runs. Layden owns a 3-2 record, posting wins over Maryland and Princeton. Keadle, however, in his six starts, has not yet won a decision and has a 0-3 record coming into Friday's game. He leads the Demon Deacons with 32 strikeouts, but also has a 6.07 ERA, the highest of Wake Forest's primary starters.
Saturday's game will feature Duke's Zach Schreiber and the Demon Deacons' Kyle Young on the mound. Both pitchers are 3-3, but Schreiber has a slight advantage with a 4.56 ERA, compared to Young's 5.84. The senior righty for the Blue Devils is second on the team in strikeouts with 46, behind Greg Burke, and most recently recorded 10 Ks against Virginia while only walking one batter.
Burke, who has found the most success of the starters on the mound this season, will start for Duke on Sunday afternoon. Though his 3-4 record is not as impressive as the other pitchers, Burke leads the starters with a 2.25 ERA and 48 strikeouts. He has pitched two complete games and allowed only one home run in 56 innings. Opposing batters have not found much success with him, as they average .229 when facing the righty redshirt junior. In his last three conference outings, Burke has allowed only five earned runs in 23.2 innings. The Demon Deacons have not yet decided who will pitch for them on Sunday.
The series will most likely be decided on the mound, as the Blue Devils and Wake Forest are comparable at the plate. Javier Socorro, who looks to extend his nine-game hitting streak, leads Duke, batting .376. Most recently, he posted three hits against ECU, which is ranked in the top 20 teams in the nation. Layden, who is averaging .330, finds himself on base about half the time.
"Hopefully we'll be able to continue hitting [against Wake Forest]," Socorro said. "We both want to break our losing streaks, so it'll be good games. Hopefully, we'll be able to take the momentum we gained from [the ECU game] and get three wins this weekend."
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